About 200 Air France pilots on strike demonstrated in front of France's National Assembly; pilots waved placards, wore stickers declaring that they were "united for our future," and handed out pro-union T-shirts.

Air France-KLM, the parent company of Air France Airlines, says about half of all Air France flights have been cancelled since the strike started, and that each day is costing as much as 20 million euros ($25 million). On Monday, company CEO Alexandre de Juniac told Le Monde the airline had made a "final proposal," offering to postpone expanding the operations of low-cost carrier Transavia until the end of the year.

Pilots protested the deadlock between Air France and the unions on Sept. 23, 2014.

Image: Christopher Ena/Associated Press

The pilots oppose the proposed expansion of Transavia, and rejected the proposal. Pilots' union SNPL called it a smoke screen, and reiterated the unions' concerns that the company is moving jobs out of France — where laws regulating labor are strict — to countries with lower taxes and cheaper labor.

Air France has said that cutting costs is necessary to stay competitive with budget carriers that have changed Europe's air travel industry.

Air France pilots are on strike so my mom is being rerouted to Ethiopia. So instead of vacaying I will attempt to procure a visa/new flight

"The number of people working for Air France is decreasing every year and there is no point building another company outside of France," Alain Magi, a protesting pilot, said. "This will not only cost pilot jobs in Air France ... that will kill Air France. We can't accept this."

The protest came just a few hours after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke out against the protesters.

Air France striking so had to change my flight - result: miss ryan adams live at the bridgewater hall in Manchester. NOT. Cool.

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